“I knew that the best way to make the world better was through the written word.” Today’s woman dreamer, Sena Desai Gopal, is a published journalist and author with a passion for social change. Sena started her career in India, writing about marginalized communities for a news channel. She then studied medical journalism and pursued a career as a science journalist in the U.S. Fast forward to 2022, Sena is now in the process of publishing her first book, “The 86th Village”. A must read story for all creatives, Sena reflects on her journey and reminds us to be comfortable pushing boundaries, ask questions, and to always remember “it is your duty to tell the story in a truthful way”.

1. Tell us your story. You have had an exciting career in the world of journalism, writing for the Boston Globe and more. What has your experience been in the journalism world, and what were some of the key lessons you learned?

I didn’t grow up wanting to be a journalist. I drifted into it because of what I believed in, my ideals, and my basic nature that urges me to get to the bottom of things. I was always interested in human rights issues, especially in Third World countries which are largely agricultural economies. That, compounded by my father’s influence in my life (he is a conservationist, passionate about environmental issues) made me pursue degrees in zoology, environmental science, and tropical agriculture. However, I knew that the best way to make the world better was through the written word. I landed a job with a development news channel in India writing about marginalized communities but I lacked reporting and writing skills and decided to do a master’s in science and medical journalism in the United States. I began my journalism career as a science reporter but branched out into writing about food, travel, international issues. Basically, whatever interested me. Eventually, and unexpectedly, I ended up writing a novel based in rural India, in a village similar to my ancestral home that is doomed to drown in a dam. My debut novel, The 86th Village, will be released March 2022.

These are the lessons I have learned – to follow my heart, to be unafraid of trying new things, and to not be limited by expectation, speculation and tradition. You need the courage of your convictions so you can make the world better. Words can end wars, start revolutions. They can bring peace if used correctly. You can control the world with words so use them fearlessly and responsibly. 

2. What is your advice to other aspiring journalists in building their careers? 

To be dogged, never give up on yourself or your story. Push boundaries, ask questions. This is not just a job or career, it is a responsibility, a duty to tell a story the truthful way. There can be no ego in this job. To this day, my stories get edited aggressively. I make mistakes. I miss something crucial that only a seasoned editor can notice. There is no retiring from this job  - there will always be a story I want to write.

3. As the platform for women dreamers, what are some of the dream topics you would like to write about? 

I don’t think it is possible to have a dream topic as a journalist. My dream topics change with the political and social climate and what needs to be addressed. This isn’t a glamorous field, it is rooted in reality because you are dealing with real people with real problems. When I am interviewing, I am acutely aware that my interviewee is telling me things that might be sacred, private and that I need to treat all this information with respect. Sensationalizing is a cheap trick used by reporters and writers who lack the capacity to investigate an issue, treat it with impartiality. So, no, you can never have dream topics because that makes it all about you and journalism is about “them.” Having said that, if pressed, I would love to write about women’s rights, not just in societies where they are oppressed but also in the United States where there is still no equal pay, support for women starting families, or even just the expectations people have from a working woman who puts in as many, and sometimes more, hours than her husband.

4. You also have a book coming out in March 2022! Congrats, tell us more about what the book is about?

My biggest achievement professionally is my debut novel, The 86th Village, which will be released in March 2022. The 86th Village takes place in a southern Indian village that has escaped the ravages of mining and the destruction from floods. The village believes it is unbreakable and incorruptible until things change one winter evening with the arrival of a beggar girl. The book is a mystery that follows her life.

Check out an excerpt from the book below!

Unlike most of the district’s villages, Nilgi had escaped the devastation from the mines decades ago and, more recently, the annual floods caused by a partially constructed dam. Its people became increasingly confident that their village was indestructible. They added haphazard rooms to their houses, for the sons who married and moved in with their wives and for their daughters who were unlikely to ever marry. Some painted their houses in glorious colors. At one point, the villagers unanimously decided that every house in Nilgi should be the same color, cream, to match the vada’s exterior. This unofficial decree was carried out but within a couple of years, the cheap cream paint bought in bulk began to chip and people decided to repaint their houses however they liked. Farmers continued developing their fields installing sprinkler systems, PVC pipes, and underground irrigation.

Electricity, too, came to Nilgi during this time. A busload of electricians arrived one morning and began installing wooden poles, electric boxes, and wires that would carry power from a hydroelectric plant several hundred kilometers away. The village gathered to watch, exhilarated at having light as bright as daylight during the night. When the first bulb was screwed into its holder and switched on, the crowd cheered and applauded. With a recently tarred road to Shantur and electricity, the village felt is had arrived in the modern world.

Nilgi could not have been more wrong.

India slowly imploded, declining swiftly as every post-independence dream shattered to smithereens. It was partly because of a corrupt government and partly because of people’s growing tolerance for corruption. Or perhaps Indians had been programmed that way because of centuries of foreign rule and did not think much of the atrocities heaped upon them by their elected leaders.

Electricity slowly disappeared from Nilgi. Not officially, as Sharada the toothless roti-maker said about things that were not supposed to be the way they were. The government had not planned for India’s exploding population and was producing less than half the needed power. As a solution, electricity was rationed to small villages. The government called the several hours of power outage, “Scheduled Power Cuts,” as if giving it an official name made it acceptable. As politicians became increasingly greedy and corrupt and the people more compliant, the scheduled power cuts disappeared, replaced by days of power outage.

Oil lamps, lanterns, and candles reappeared. In the beginning the villagers made excuses for the outages. Probably a tree falling on the power lines or a broken electric pole, they said, but when it worsened, they cursed the politicians, the officials and the electricity. When the dusty light bulbs in Nilgi lit up, women dropped whatever they were doing, grabbed sacks of jowar and wheat and rushed to the mill to grind the grain to flour. The men ran to their farms to turn on pumps and water their wilting crops. For the few hours when there was power the rhythmic chugging of the water pumps and grain crushers sliced the silence of the countryside. The silence returned when the electricity went off, broken occasionally by the sound of a bus or motorcycle bumping along the road to Shantur.

Now, the tar road between Shantur and Nilgi was full of potholes, some so deep that a small dog or cat could easily drown in the water that collected in the monsoons. The buses still came every hour, but the ride was bumpy and uncomfortable, braved only by those who had no other way of getting to Shantur. Most villagers owned bicycles and motorcycles and two families even had cars. The bullock carts were still there even if they now preferred the dirt road of the past. The government refused to repair the road assuring Nilgi that it would certainly drown very soon when the dam’s height was raised. What was the point of investing in a place whose days were numbered?

Nilgi’s isolation was complete when the telephone lines, too, became unreliable. They went dead for several days so friends and family in far-off towns and cities, who had seemed close because of the telephones, retreated to their distant places again.

Thank you Sena for sharing your inspiring story with us! We are excited to have you in our global women’s network!

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